For a development studio’s first title, Dontnod Entertainment’s Remember Me is quite an ambitious game, both in its premise and the game’s core mechanics. Players control Nilin, a bona fide kick-ass female protagonist—for once—and a rebel fighter in 2084, who is fighting to get her memory back from Memorize, a shady corporation messing with the minds of the citizens of Neo-Paris. It’s an interesting idea, but like the game’s visual design and mechanics, it doesn’t quite live up to its potential. As a pseudo-adventure game, Remember Me is too restrictive and repetitive: Run through corridors, climb some stuff, land in open fighting area, repeat. The same applies to the game as an action-packed beat ’em up: The customizable combo system allows for some on-the-fly strategy, but battles come down to managing special attack timers and awkward camera angles in arenas, not any kind of thoughtful approach. Whether it’s the story, aesthetics or mechanics, Remember Me’s great ideas never really coalesce into a consistent, memorable experience. –Randy Dankievitch

With the Resident Evil franchise being milked for everything it’s worth—in the gaming world as well as in Hollywood—it’s surprising to see a semi-recent re-release recapture the series’ original, gruesome survival gameplay, mixed with the always enjoyable problem-solving activities. Within the titles’ timeline, the story ineffectively tries to act as a bridge between RE4 and RE5. Aboard a mysterious, abandoned cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, the story revolves around franchise regular Jill Valentine and her new partner, Parker Luciani, searching for another franchise regular, Chris Redfield. As they explore the ship’s innards, they encounter multiple zombie-like marine monsters infected with a variation of the T-virus. The greatest element to Revelations is the aforementioned survival component. Rather than the “run n’ gun” scenario found in most of today’s games, players must conserve their resources and plan out their attacks before committing to anything. It’s that same factor that made the 1996 original so terrifying, yet appealing, and it’s a pleasure to see it re-emerge years later. However, unlike the original, this episode’s campaign is quite short and can be completed in one long gaming session, so paying the full asking price may be undesirable for most. –Jimmy Martin

The Sims sure have come a long way over the years. From their peaceful beginnings in a small town, speaking their obnoxious language, they have finally erupted onto an island haven where you can explore, build a resort, master swimming and construct awesome bathrooms. The Sims 3 is a title meant for a precise audience (one that I am not a member of). It does exactly what it is intended to do by expanding the world and giving you additional adventures and items for your beloved (or hated, in my case) family. Fans of the series have a lot of new content to look forward to, making it worth the $39.99 price tag. If the end user can get through the game’s daunting digital rights management, they will happily find themselves skipping across an island to build an adventure for their favorite gibberish-speaking friends. I highly recommend this for anyone with a daughter, or someone heavily addicted to Facebook games—you’re already playing FarmVille, you might as well do it with good visuals and open-world freedom. –Thomas Winkley